Venetian blind.



J. F. LESSING.

' VENETIAN BLIND.

APPLICATION FILED 0m. 23. 1914.

1 ,1 98,729, Y Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

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1 7 Miami JOHN F. LESSING, OF ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN.

VENETIAN BLIND.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

Application filed October 23, 1914. Serial No. 868,216.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. Lnssmo, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of 724 Hoyt street, St. Joseph, Berrien county, Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Venetian Blinds, of which the following as a specification.

. My invention relates to Venetian blinds of that kind in which the slats are connected together at their ends by means of links and pivots, and is in the nature of an improvement on the Venetian blind of this character shown and described in my prior Patent No. 1,037,938, issued September 10, 1912.

The object of my present invention is to provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby the raising and lowering of a Venetian blind of this character is rendered more certain, and whereby the blind is held in position by guide ways which prevent displacement of the blind during the raising and lowering thereof, as well as at other times, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

To the foregoing and other useful ends my invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawingsFigure 1 is a front elevation of a window equipped with a Venetian blind embodying the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the said window and Venetian blind, on a larger scale, showing the middle portion thereof broken away for convenience of illustration. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view showing a fragment of the blind, and illustrating the construction of the guiding mechanism by which the slats are connected together and held against displacement. Fig. 4 is a detail section on line H in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail section on line 5- 5 in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a perspective of one of the connecting and guiding links, showing the adjacent portion of one of the slats. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of one of the vertically disposed guide ways for the said Venetian blind, showing certain portions thereof broken away for convenience of illustration.

As thus illustrated,--my invention comprises a series of horizontally disposed slats A of wood or sheet iron or any other suitable material; and when made of sheet metal these slats may be corrugated longitudinally thereof, as indicated in Fig. 6, thus increasmg the strength and stiffness thereof. Each slat is provided at its opposite ends with a pivot com-prising a headed rivet a secured to the slat by a clip or bracket a fastened to the slat by rivets or any other suitable means. For each slat there is a link B provided with a vertically disposed slot b, the upper end portion 5 of said link being bent slightly outward and away from the ends of the slats. At its lower end each link is provided with a rectangular loop h formed by bending two portions of the sheet metal together. These two end portions are fastened together to form a neck b and the extreme ends of these portions are turned outward to provide a head I), as shown more clearly in Fig. 6. The pivot pin a slides up and down in the slot b and normally rests at the bottom of said slot. The link immediately below has its upper end disposed inside of the loop b and the pivot pin a of the slat extends through the upper end of the slot of said lower link,'whereby the latter is supported by said pivoted pin; and this overlapping arrangement of the links is continued downward until the last slat is reached, it'being understood that thisarrangemcnt of the links is adhered to at both sides of the blind.

Sheet metal guideways O are secured to the opposite sides of the window frame D, these guide ways being provided with slots 0 for the necks Z) of the links, it being observed that in cross section each guide way is formed with a chamber 0 for the heads Zr of said links.

The width of the slats A is such that when the blind is down the slats overlap eachother slightly, and a cord 1* is fastened to the lower edge of each slat, said cord then extending over sheaves c and e on the window frame, and any suitable means being provided for holding said cord in different positions. By pulling on said cord when the blind is down, all the slats will be tilted on their pivots a, causing spaces to appear between the slats in the well known manner.

The uppermost links B are suitably fastened to the upper portion of the WlIldOW cleat F secured to the underside of the top of the window frame. Two cords G are arranged for raising and lowering the blind, and for this purpose one cord travels over a sheave g and thence downward at the side of the window to a point where its lower end is fastened to the.

lowermost loop 6 of the link B on the lower most slat. The other cord travels over sheaves g and g and thence downward at the other side of the window to the point where its lower end is fastened to the lowermost loop 6 at this side of the blind. With this arrangement, and when a downward pull is exerted on the united end portions 9 of the cords G, the lowermost slat will be raised, and this will cause all the slats to be drawn upward, the links B overlapping and sliding upon each other in the loops 6 whereby the overlapping of the links is more than two deep in each loop. In other words, the downward pull of the cords G causes the loops 6 to become bunched together at the upper portion of the window, and causes the links themselves to overlap each other to a much greater extent than when the blind is down. During this operation of the blind the slats are held against displacement by the guide ways C, whereby the pivots a are always retained in the vertical plane of the window, and the blind is prevented from swinging back and forth like a curtain.

Each guide C is provided with upper and lower screw openings 0 for attaching the guide ways to the window frame. At its center each guide way is provided with a keyhole shaped opening 0 and the method of attaching the guide ways is as follows: Screws are inserted in the window frame for the openings 0 and each guideway 0 is then adjusted endwise until it becomes accurately positioned relative to the window, and then the screws are inserted through the opening 0 and into the window frame. The upper portion of each opening 0 can be large enough to pass the head of the screw, so that these screws can be inserted first and the guide ways then applied thereto, a slight upward movement of each guideway causing the lower narrow portion of each opening 0 to engage the screw, thus holding the guideways in place. This can be done while the heads 6- are in the side guide ways, and either before or after the cleatF is secured in position; and then the screws can be inserted through the openings 0 it being observed that the upper and lower ends of these guides C are so formed that access is afforded for the insertion of these screws and for the use of a screw-driver in so doing. a

Thus, and with the foregoing construction, it is only necessary to attach the raising and lowering cords G to the lowermost links 6, and it is not necessary to attach these cords directly to the slats themselves. The cord E is, as stated, attached to each and every one of said slats; but by employing the guideways C, and by providing the links G with means for engaging said guide ways, it is not necessary to attach the raising and lowering cords G to the slats, and it is only necessary to attach the lower endsof these cords to the lowermost links. When the said cords G are operated the lower slat A heads are all crowded together near the top of the window. In this way the Venetian blind is raised to entirely open the window; but if it is desired to exclude light or rain, and at the same time admit air for ventilation, then the blind is left down and the cord E is pulled at one side of the window for the purpose of tilting all of the slats about their horizontal and longitudinal axes, thus causing openings between the slats, but leaving the latter in such inclined positions that they prevent the admission of sunlight; and in this inclined position the said slats will also prevent rain from entering through the blind.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a Venetian blind, a pair of sheetmetal guides secured upright, each guide having a relatively narrow slot in the outer wall thereof, and means consisting of heads which travel up and down in said guides, to hold the blind in place, each head having a reduced neck which travels in the guideslot, and said guides having open ends to 7 and said guides having open ends to release said heads, said heads being held against rotation.

3. In a Venetian blind, a pair of sheetmetal guides secured upright, each guide having a relatively narrow slot in the outer.

wall thereof, and means consisting of heads which travel up and down in said guides, to hold the blind in place, each head having a reduced neck which travels in the guide-slot, said guides having open ends to release said heads, and the blind-slats having connecting elemeits with which said necks are rigidly u'nite 4. In a Venetian blind, a pair of sheetproximately in line horizontally with the 10 metal guides secured upright, each guide upper edge of the bliEid-slats when the blind having a relatively narrow slot in the outer is closed. wall thereof, and means consisting of heads Signed by me at St. Joseph, Michigan,

." which travel up and down in said guides, to this 19th day of October,-1914.

hold the blind in place, each head having a JOHN F. LESSING.

reduced neck which travels in the guide-slot, Witnesses: said guides having open ends to release said MA'I'IHIAS WEBER, heads, and said heads being disposed ap ALMA VIGANsKY. 

